Volusion: An Intuitive E-Commerce Platform Loaded with Features to Help Small- to Medium-Sized Businesses Succeed

By: Anne Copeland

The Crunch: Reinvigorated by a company-wide rebrand and vision, e-commerce software platform Volusion has shifted its focus toward helping SMBs create and maintain online stores. Volusion solves the complex processes of building and running an e-commerce website for small- to medium-sized businesses, which often have limited staffing, busy schedules, and little or no in-house IT support. The company especially sets itself apart by using customer feedback as a guide for product and feature development. An all-in-one platform for SMBs, Volusion makes clear its commitment to growth in the tools and support it provides merchants seeking to maximize their sales online.

After his daughter experienced a scary health reaction to chewing gum, Edward Bradfield went to his kitchen and concocted a gum formula that was free of toxic chemicals and artificial flavors. The organic and all-natural chewing gum he created was not only a hit with his daughter — her school friends and their parents began to ask for orders, too, thus marking the beginning of Real Good Gum.

Real Good Gum boasts that its products are free of all the “junk” found in common chewing gums, which is why the demand for the wholesome gum led Edward to launch a full-fledged gum business. So when he set out to find an e-commerce provider, he skipped the solutions that were full of “junk” features and opted to use Volusion — a platform filled with the exact ingredients he needed to grow his business.

With a brand refresh in early 2017, the company has zeroed in on small- and medium-sized business owners and operators. The company focus since the rebrand is “breeding amazing founders,” according to Volusion’s Senior Product Manager Jeremy Benoit. And Volusion’s innovations embody that mantra.

The rebranding also resulted in redesigning the company logo as a prism, a symbol selected to reflect what Volusion strives to accomplish for SMBs, Jeremy said.

“A prism transforms light into various colors, and we do the same thing,” Jeremy said. “We take founders who have an idea and we help with our e-commerce platform, support, and success to transform founders into successful store owners.”

Volusion supports SMBs in the e-commerce space by helping them create and manage online stores that can go head to head with their largest competitors. The desktop and mobile-friendly website themes and features built into the platform enable users to create robust online stores without having to write a single line of code.

The e-commerce software platform also acts as a one-stop destination for website maintenance, sales, and marketing activity to simplify the unique processes — often unfamiliar to SMBs — involved in running an online store.

A Suite of Digital Marketing Tools, Resources, and App Integrations

What sets Volusion apart from competing website builders is the plethora of digital marketing services natively included in the platform.

According to Jeremy, a common complaint among many in e-commerce is the lack of business support after a website is built, a pain point that affects their chance of success. That is why the company began developing solutions to address those concerns.

“Marketing is a big problem for SMBs and another area that merchants talk about having difficulty getting noticed,” Jeremy said.

Volusion’s platform gives users a range of built-in marketing tools to help boost sales for their online stores. Merchants can effortlessly use SEO features, create a variety of discount campaigns to market, and access reporting through Google Analytics to increase visibility and create dynamic stores that entice shoppers to purchase.

The analytics service also allows users to view their critical store performance insights, including website traffic, average user session length, product order data, revenue, and shopping cart abandonment intelligence — a specific feature that Volusion plans to enhance. Other features in development include an interactive sales funnel, checkout, and conversion rate tools.

On Volusion’s road map is an integration with Zapier that will connect the e-commerce platform to any third-party service connected to the Zapier app. One such service is the email marketing tool Mailchimp — another direct integration Volusion intends to build out in the future.

Volusion’s platform further extends its feature set by enabling users to connect their social network accounts to their online storefronts and share products on their profiles.

Software that Saves Time by Streamlining Business Operations

Volusion’s developments and innovations reflect customer feedback and data gathered through customer conversation, monthly surveys, and support team reports. Users have identified saving time as their greatest need, and the e-commerce software platform is focused on addressing the issue.

Jeremy says the objective of Volusion’s platform, user interface, features, and services has been to identify improvements that optimize the management of an online store.

“We try to minimize the impact on a small-to-medium sized business when it comes to time. We continue to hear from merchants that their time is critical because they don’t have 100 to 200-plus employees to help them out with all of the tasks they need to do to run their business,” Jeremy said.

Volusion’s products have been tailored for users who want to get a store up and running in a single day if needed. The platform is also set up to facilitate the process of translating brick-and-mortar businesses to their online store.

Furthermore, for busy owners who are rarely at a desktop computer, Volusion’s platform is accessible through the V2 Mobile App, allowing users to edit and manage their e-commerce website directly from their smartphone.

Providing Continuous Support for Both New and Seasoned Users

Volusion has a track record of championing customers by offering phone support services 24/7. After rebranding, the service expects to be a mainstay of the platform based on positive user feedback.

All Volusion representatives are trained to understand the platform inside out so they can provide merchants assistance on a range of issues, from technical website problems to Google Adwords campaigns. Volusion’s support team also offers one-on-one expert assistance outside of software specific inquiries to help customers on their marketing and site design.

The company also makes available on its website a rich library of materials, including online business guides and a blog on popular e-commerce topics.

Helping Small Businesses Drive Sales and Build Strong Online Stores

While searching for a solution to grow his Real Good Gum business, Edward was drawn to Volusion because it was created by entrepreneurs like himself.

“I liked the fact that they would understand what I was going through and could help guide me,” Edward said about the e-commerce platform. “They only charge for what I need at the time, not a bunch of stuff I don’t.”

Edward Bradfield designed an online store for his business, Real Good Gum, using Volusion.

Since SMBs often do not have access to the marketing and design teams that larger companies have, Volusion helps them create and maintain an online store with its all-inclusive software platform. And, unlike other providers that often end up making users pay for unrelated features for their business, Volusion’s platform and services are made to be affordable and scalable as SMBs grow.

“Our unique position is our focus. We don’t drop you off in the platform with a do-it-yourself learning model,” Jeremy said. “We really give them support from beginning to end”

By taking a hands-on approach with a company rebrand focused on growing SMBs, Volusion is going after exactly what it wants — and that is to breed amazing founders.

About The Author

Anne Copeland brings 22 years of experience in retail and banking to DealCrunch.com, with specialization in bulk purchases and number-crunching data sets. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and spends much of her free time studying discount trends in online retail.